Controversial CenITex executive Thana Velummylum has again entered into a contract with the Victorian shared services agency for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

His newest contract has recently been released on the Victorian
tender site. For the two years from 1 August 2009 to 1 August 2011,
his company Pharma Insight will receive $900,000: a step down in
pay from his last pay packet, but also a longer commitment.

The public eye had already been trained on the executive because
of his previous large pay packets. For the year 1 September 2008 to
31 August 2009, Velummylum
was paid $493,680 for a year's work as CenITex's chief of
operations. Prior to that his company (under a different trading
name)
held a contract worth $215,620 for five and a half months' work
implementing the agency's IT service delivery model.

The amount he earned obtained some scrutiny by Victorian Shadow
Information Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips in state
budget estimates hearings earlier in the year. Rich-Phillips said that senior
positions such as chief of operations shouldn't be filled by very
highly paid contractors.

After these events, Velummylum changed his role at CenITex to
become the transformation manager for the agency's Efficient
Technology Services program, which creates the common ICT
services used to supply shared services to agencies' needs.

The dates and amount for the chief operations contract
listed in the Victorian tender site also seem to have been altered
since June, reducing to $457,765 for the new period of 4 August 2008 to
31 July 2009. The altered dates would mean that his first two contracts
overlap by a month.

Taking the altered amounts into account, the new contract will
bring Velummylum's payment for services to CenITex to just over $1.5 million.

CenITex had at the time of writing not commented on the appropriateness of the payment or
Velummylum's role change.

CenITex currently provides services to the Victorian
Departments of Transport, Planning and Community Development,
Premier and Cabinet, Primary Industries, Sustainability and
Environment as well as Treasury and Finance. By 2012, it hopes to
also supply services to the Departments of Innovation, Industry and
Regional Development, Human Services, Justice, Education and Early
Childhood Development as well as to VicRoads, the State Revenue
Office, the Environmental Protection Authority and Victoria
Police.

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